


Lily vs. the N.E.W.T.s

by orderofthepygmypuff



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: And James is adorable, Exams, F/M, Fluff, Poor Lily is very overwhelmed, Sickfic, jily
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-20
Updated: 2019-02-20
Packaged: 2019-11-01 10:40:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,441
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17865707
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orderofthepygmypuff/pseuds/orderofthepygmypuff
Summary: Lily Evans might fail her Transfiguration N.E.W.T, she has an annoying cold, and James Potter is here to ruin her life, probably. That’s always what he wants to do, right?





	Lily vs. the N.E.W.T.s

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ClaudiaWrites](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ClaudiaWrites/gifts).



> You are going to absolutely crush all the things, Claudia! <3

Every time Lily thought about the N.E.W.T.s, she felt the knot in her belly grow a little tighter. She’d written up a complicated study schedule in September, felt immensely proud and prepared, and then forgotten about it until after the Christmas holidays. Now the panic seemed to be settling into her bones, and to make it even worse, it seemed to be physically manifesting as a cold. Lily couldn’t stop sniffling and dripping all over her parchment.

She wasn’t the only one feeling the pressure though—it was somewhat comforting to see all her classmates spending their breaks and meal times hunched over sheafs of notes and stolen library books. Even Dorcas Meadowes, who was clearly the toughest witch in their year, ended up vomiting during one of McGonagall’s particularly difficult lessons.

(But Dorcas being Dorcas, had vomited right on the classroom floor in front of everybody instead of running to the bathroom. And then when everyone including Professor McGonagall had stopped to stare in horror, Dorcas had vanished the mess and taken a bow to general applause. Only Lily, sitting next to her, had seen her friend’s hands shake.)

Exam stress was real, and it was getting to everyone. Everyone except for—

The portrait hole burst open, and Lily’s mood went from tense to furious in a second when she saw James Potter standing there in his Quidditch robes, his stupid hair looking all windswept, and a broad, relaxed grin on his spectacularly annoying face.

“Alright, Evans?” 

And of course he would single her out two seconds after entering the room. It was like he existed to aggravate her.

“Sod off, Potter.” She attempted her best icy snarl, but it came out less vicious due to her plugged up nose and raspy throat.

And in fact, Potter didn’t look put out or chastised—he had the audacity to approach her, with a little wrinkle in his brow, his grin transformed into a slight frown, and sit down in the empty seat next to her (which had remained vacant all evening due to the combined forces of Lily’s terrible mood and her obvious illness).

“Are you sick?”

Lily groaned and covered her head with her arms, resting on top of _Advanced Potion Making, Grade Seven_.

“You caught that cold going around, did you? Can’t be pleasant trying to study for the N.E.W.T.s with that,” said James lightly.

Lily felt the telltale burning in her eyes. Why, why, _why_ did she have to deal with James sodding Potter on top of being completely unable to breathe and nearly 100% positive that she was going to fail her Transfiguration exam? The latter things she had accepted as unfortunate yet unavoidable facts of life, but why did Potter have to be a part of this mess? 

And the worst of it—the absolute worst—was that somehow in the past few months, she had come to realize that she just didn’t hate James Potter the way she had in the past. With their joint Head duties forcing them together far more often than in previous years, things between them had just—changed.

And now there was a new (and far worse) kind of feeling: the way the sight of him made her heart leap to her throat. The way she felt frozen and shaky when he smiled at her.

The way tears were now leaking from her eyes in emotional overwhelmation because he said something perfectly normal and friendly to her. 

“Please leave me alone,” she said in a watery whimper. “I really need to study.”

“Aw, no, Lily. It’s going to be alright.” He brushed back her unkempt hair from where it had stuck to her face, still hidden in her arms.

To Lily’s horror (though, if she was being honest, what she felt was less like horror and more like relief), she leaned right into him and cried.

James put his arms awkwardly around her, rubbed circles on her back, and rested his chin on her head. It was warm and lovely; he smelled like open air and sweat; and Lily barely resisted the urge to pull up her freezing feet and tuck them close to him too.

“Come on, let’s get you to bed.”

“I can’t. I’ll fail Transfiguration.” It was Friday evening, and Lily’s plan had been to study all night to help her catch up on the revision she’d neglected to do for months.

“You won’t.” He held her (wet, blotchy, red-nosed) face between his palms. “You, Lily Evans, are a brilliant goddamn witch, and you are not going to let some stupid cold get in the way of your success. You’re going to get well, and work hard like you always do, and then breeze through these exams. And you’re going to do so well that you’ll be the youngest Minister of Magic that Britain has ever known.”

“I’m not brilliant,” said Lily miserably. “I’m behind on everything, and it’s my own fault. You’re the one who’s going to breeze through this, not me.”

“Are you kidding? Evans, do you know what time it is?”

“About two in the morning?”

“Exactly. And I just came in from the pitch because that Charms N.E.W.T. is absolutely going to decimate me, and I wanted to do one last thing I enjoyed before surrendering to a life as an abject failure and disappointment.”

Lily gave a watery laugh, but the sight of him looking so resigned made it die in her throat.

“What are you even talking about, Potter? Everything is easy for you.”

James shook his head. “It’s not. That’s just—I just act like that because—”

“Because what?”

“Because.”

He was quite as red as she was now, Lily noticed. She drew back, pulling her head from his hands, and he cleared his throat.

“I’m good at Transfiguration.”

“Well bully for you then,” said Lily, turning back to her notes. She had to get a good eight hours of studying in before—

“No, I didn’t mean it like that. I meant that you’re good at Charms, and I’m good at Transfiguration. So we can help each other.”

She looked up, trying to keep her face neutral and hide the fact that her stomach was suddenly doing cartwheels. Spending time with James Potter did strange and ridiculous things to her, but he _was_ undeniably good at Transfiguration. If he could help her—

“I could use a tutor,” she said slowly.

“So could I.”

She couldn’t help the smile that crept up her face. “I guess we’ll do that then.”

“Under one condition,” said James, looking suddenly solemn.

“What?”

“You go to bed right now, and we’ll studying start right after breakfast.”

She frowned. “I told you, I _need to—”_

“Sleep,” he finished for her. “Come on, Evans.”

She looked at his face, fully intending to argue her point, but the sight of it made her mouth go dry these days, because looked at her like _that_ : soft smile creasing his tawny skin, those hazel eyes, that mole by his neck that she wanted to kiss—

_What?!_

She found herself obeying the pressure of his hands as he helped her up, wrapped her Gryffindor scarf more tightly round her neck, and led her to the bottom of the staircase to the girls’ dormitories. She paused there, turning to say something that vanished on her tongue because he was standing so close, and she couldn’t breathe (and not just because of this stupid cold), and then he was leaning in and kissing her softly on her (probably still damp) forehead.

“Goodnight, Evans.”

 

—

 

Lily woke the next morning just in time for breakfast, and found a bottle of Pepper-up Potion and two notes on her bedside table:

_Evans,_

_Remus nicked a few of these from Madam Pomfrey last week so he wouldn’t have to “waste time being fussed over during N.E.W.T. season,” and since the two of you are weirdly similar, I thought you might appreciate a bottle for the same reason. I’ll be in the library after breakfast—see you soon?_

~~_Lo_ ~~

~~_Yours_ ~~

~~_Your friend,_ ~~

~~_—J. Potter_ ~~

_—James_

  


_Lily—_

_What the hell did you do to Potter last night? He accosted me at dawn to bring you a damn note and a potion??? Are you two finally together? YOU’D BETTER TELL ME EVERYTHING THE SECOND YOU WAKE UP._

_“Your friend” (HAHAHAHAHAHAHA)_

_Dorcas_

 

Lily downed the potion in one, even though it made the steam rush through her ears at top speed. She had breakfast to eat, an exam to ace, and a boy to—er. Tutor. Right. Obviously.


End file.
